The Highly-Paid, Zero Production Team
Released by the St. Louis Cardinals in November of 2016
Owed $2.5 million for 2017 by St. Louis Cardinals
Signed by Kansas City Royals and is playing in the minor leagues
Pena began his MLB career with the Atlanta Braves back in 2005 and stuck around the big leagues as a back-up catcher with five different teams until last season. He flirted with replacement level for most of those years, almost always being worth between -0.5 WAR and 0.5 WAR (per Baseball-Reference). For most of that time, his salary matched his value as a near replacement level player.
In November of 2013, Pena signed a two-year deal with the Cincinnati Reds that paid him $2.275 million over two years. When that deal ended after the 2015 season, the St. Louis Cardinals signed him to a two-year deal worth a guaranteed $5 million. He played just nine big league games for the Cardinals last year and they released him after the season. Five million dollars for nine major league games is a pretty good gig, if you can get it.
Pena signed with the Kansas City Royals as a free agent in February, but hasn’t made his way back to the big leagues yet. He’s still getting that $2.5 million from the Cardinals, though. He is currently playing with the Omaha Storm Chasers of the PCL, which is the Triple-A team for the Kansas City Royals. The 35-year-old catcher is hitting .274/.308/.298 in 38 games.